


Work Spouse

by Neverever



Category: Marvel Adventures: Avengers, Marvel Adventures: Iron Man
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Projecthappystark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-10-01
Packaged: 2018-02-19 12:36:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2388437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverever/pseuds/Neverever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Pepper tells Tony Steve is his work spouse, Tony wonders why she would say that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Work Spouse

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for Project Happy Stark, a celebration of all the things people like about Tony Stark. My Tony is from Marvel Adventures: Avengers.
> 
> Thanks to my beta as ever.

Needing to feed his coffee addiction, Tony finally had to make the short walk to Pepper’s secret coffee maker. While pouring himself a cup, he overheard some admins talking about the office. The conversation quickly turned to discussing Tony, and his ears perked up a bit more. One of the women said, “You know, Pepper is definitely his work wife; everything goes through her and she’s constantly covering for him.”

He nearly dropped his mug. Work wife? Pepper and he worked very well together, but that was all. What kind of expression was that anyway?

Back in his office, he sat down at his desk with his third cup of coffee and looked at the day’s schedule printed out and set right in the middle of his desk. Pepper had highlighted what he had to do that day for meetings, with a surprising block of empty time late in the day simply marked “inventing time.” Good ol’ Pep. He powered up his laptop to review documents for his first meeting and googled work wife.

He asked Pepper about it later as he was leaving to spend the rest of the day in his workshop. “So what’s this about you being my work wife?”

Looking up from her tablet, Pepper had a disgusted look. “Ugh, I wish that expression would die a horrible death.”

“Okayyy,” Tony replied. 

“Besides, whoever told you that got it wrong. I’m not your work spouse. Steve is.” She handed a cup of coffee over to Tony. “Enjoy your afternoon.”

Hmmm, Steve? She was talking about Steve, Captain America Steve? His work spouse? They worked together, that’s all. Great guy, would help you move without the beer bribe. Always good to have him around. He wanted to ask Pepper, but she was already on her phone, waving him off. Maybe he would ask her to explain another time.

Later, Tony surfaced from the workshop in time to join his fellow Avengers for pizza and a movie. He knew he could trust Bruce’s taste in movies, Storm’s choice of pizza and Janet to wrangle Spider-Man and Tigra. Steve would be in his usual spot on the couch. If Tony had timed it right, he could claim the other couch spot, otherwise he’d lose it to Storm. He hated evicting her from the couch because she always implied something about Tony and Steve. But Tony liked that couch; it beat the recliner he was exiled to if he was late to a movie. Nothing to do with Steve.

As soon as Tony entered the living room, he could tell something was terribly wrong. “Where’s Steve?”

Jan looked up from her copy of Vogue and said, “He said something this morning about taking a trip. We assumed he told you the details. So we didn’t ask.”

Tony vaguely remembered Steve saying something on Sunday about being out of town for a day or two as he parked his motorcycle in the garage. Tony hadn’t paid attention because he was distracted by the rough rattle coming from the engine. Steve could be very demanding on his bikes. He really should get on that -- he couldn’t have Steve stuck in the tower when the supervillains attacked.

He was in the middle of redesigning the engine when he noticed that Bruce had put in Gravity. Ugh. Beautiful film, but unwatchable. So many plot holes. Steve would have suggested a different film. He started rooting around for paper to draft that idea he had for fixing Steve’s motorcycle engine. He scowled at the lack of writing materials and his tablet was back in the kitchen.

Damn, where did Steve go, and when would he be back? He looked mournfully at Steve’s usual spot. Shame that Steve couldn’t make Team Bonding Movie Night or whatever they were calling it these days. It wasn’t worth it to fight Storm and Bruce for the couch since they looked so happy to be sitting there finally.

“Are you pouting?” Tigra asked. 

“Why would I be pouting?” Tony asked. “I spent the afternoon inventing something awesome and we’ve got pizza and a movie.” 

“Is it the movie?” Jan asked. 

“Um,” Tony replied. “No, I’m just distracted.” If Steve was here, Tony’d have paper to design an engine. Or Steve would have retrieved the tablet for him. Steve always knew where things were and when they would be needed.

“Steve warned us about the film,” Jan continued. “But it got good reviews and the cinematography is gorgeous.” 

Tony glanced up and glared at the screen. Yep, any space-faring superhero could solve this problem. It was gonna be a long night.

On Tuesday, Tony decided to spend his available time and some of his unavailable time on various projects for the Avengers. He expected the usual protest from Pepper about upcoming R&D reports and meetings. Tony was armed to the teeth with a number of reasons why, when Pepper’s sudden agreement left him hanging. 

“I’ll just reschedule for next week,” she said, putting her tablet down. “Considering how important the Avengers are to you …” 

“Who are you, and what have you done with Pepper?” Tony asked.

“Like I said, you’re always looking for time to work on Avengers project and for some reason, we’re not that busy right now.” She stood up and patted Tony’s shoulder. “Enjoy it. It won’t last.”

Unleashed again for nearly a whole day, Tony gleefully threw himself into his projects over in his workshop in Avengers Tower. He had a brilliant idea about rehauling the whole quinjet design from the ground up. The quinjets didn’t have the best reputation for surviving missions. And he might resolve once and for all that pesky seating problem. 

Then Steve stopped by in his workout gear. “Hi, heard you were in the workshop,” he said by way of greeting.

Tony waved his coffee mug in response. “All day.” He saved his files. “So, where you have been?” He narrowed his blue eyes. It should be against the law for Steve to be walking around in clothing that tight.

“I thought I said something about it.” Steve frowned and shrugged. “I was down in Virginia at a charity golf tournament. Got back this morning.” He drank from his own star-embossed coffee mug.

Now Tony remembered -- golf tournament, Virginia, big deal, Steve had been excited. “How did it go?”

“It was good. Not sure I’d do it again.” Steve came over to the holoscreens Tony had left up. “What are you designing?”

“Trying to fix some problems on the quinjet.”

“Oh, not the suit? Last fight we had with insectoids, you had said something fixing about the filters in the suits …”

Tony smacked his forehead. “Right, right.” He shuddered at the memory of the horrible feeling of ants invading the suit. Gah, never again. He immediately pulled up the suit specs. “Getting on that right now.”

He liked talking to Steve while working. Steve somehow knew exactly what Tony needed, even knowing when to start up the workshop coffee maker before Tony had an inkling he’d want coffee. Golden-haired and smiling, Steve leaned against a workbench and talked about his motorcycle trip down south and the golf tournament. Tony asked Steve what he wanted with a new quinjet, beyond having one that survived a mission without needing major maintenance. They caught up on news and discussed a number of Avengers issues.

Finally Steve had to leave to do whatever Steve did in the training room, and Tony turned back to his holoscreens and CAD drawings. The workshop seemed a little darker now that Steve had gone. Maybe he should think of something to lure Steve into visiting more often. He could build a shield buffing machine, that might do the trick.

Tony thought that his luck finally ran out on Wednesday when he arrived at the Tower. As soon as he stepped off the elevator into the living room the emergency alarms went off. He ran into Bruce on his way to the suit. “What’s going on?”

“Reports of bug creatures vomiting acid over on Park Avenue, near Grand Central Station,” Bruce replied. He had his meditation helmet in hand and a knapsack full of scientific equipment over his shoulder. “They fit the profile of known inhabitants of the Negative Zone.”

“So we’re being invaded by bugs from the Negative Zone. Why is that not the Fantastic Four’s problem?” Tony complained.

Before Bruce could reply, Steve appeared at the end of the hallway. “The Fantastic Four just called. Reed said that they are getting the bugs under control so they don’t need our help,” he announced. Then he ducked out.

Tony was back on his winning streak again. No bug goo today or Negative Zone weirdness. He followed Bruce back to Bruce’s lab. Bruce scritched the head of a purring kitty sitting on top of a cat tree in a corner of the lab. “I can’t say I’m upset,” Bruce said. “Don’t want to miss my yoga class.”

“I could pass on filling out patent applications though,” Tony said.

“Really?” Bruce said, adjusting his classes.

“My lawyers insist on it,” Tony said. He pulled up a chair. “So have you heard the phrase ‘work wife’?”

“Don’t like it. Sounds kind of sexist.”

“Pepper says that Steve is my work spouse.”

Bruce started to laugh silently and had to take his glasses off because of the tears in his eyes. “Sorry. But I can’t imagine a better description of you and Steve. Except that it isn’t just work.”

“But why?”

“Did you ask other people?”

“Yes, and Jan laughed harder than you, and when I asked her why, she told me to stop talking before she had to go to the hospital for breaking something from laughing even harder. Storm can’t look me in the eye without starting to giggle. I’m getting a complex here.”

“Well, uh, yeah,” Bruce hemmed and hawed. “I guess it makes sense. You both manage the team, so people might say that Steve is your work spouse.”

“Peter just groaned and said to keep him out of it,” Tony continued.

Bruce looked longingly over at his lab bench and the experiment he had carefully set up. “Tony, talk to me when Steve starts finishing your sentences and you still don’t understand.”

Tony stared at Bruce happily picking up a flask with a colored liquid. “Fine, I’ll work it out myself,” he grumped.

Again, Tony arrived at Stark Industries, found his schedule and discovered there was only one meeting and the entire afternoon blocked out for a trip to the Stark airfield with Rhodey. Rhodey suggested that they grab lunch on their way to the airfield, especially if Tony was expecting him to fly. 

Over cheeseburgers, fries, and beer, Tony asked, “Why is it ‘be nice to Tony’ week all of a sudden? Not that I’m complaining, but usually the universe conspires against me to rain on my parade.”

Rhodey chuckled warmly. “Don’t overthink it, Tony. Why question being happy? Go with the flow.”

So many reasons, Tony automatically thought. “Pepper isn’t even nagging me at all about anything.”

“Live in the moment, Tones,” his friend repeated fondly.

Tony leaned back, putting his arm on the back of the booth bench. “It’s not even that. I had time to do whatever I wanted to do this week -- finish that update for the new StarkPhone design, fix my suit intake valves, and now I can overhaul the quinjet. I haven’t had to meet with the lawyers, or deal with a meltdown in R&D …. And it’s been quiet on the Avengers front too.” He played with his fork and stared out the window. “It’s like I don’t even know what to with myself if I’m not fighting someone or something for what I want.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Anyway, ever hear the phrase ‘work spouse’?”

Rhodey paused a minute. “Not for a long time.”

Repeating himself for the millionth time that week, Tony commented, “Pepper says that Steve’s my work spouse. And I don’t know what she means by that.”

Rhodey suddenly looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Not a good look on him, Tony thought. Then he started babbling, “Oh, that makes sense, I guess. You and Steve work very closely together ….” He stopped and took a deep breath. “You wouldn’t have a team if it wasn’t for Steve or you.”

Right. If it wasn’t for Steve, Tony wouldn’t have a team to fight supervillains with, a partner with whom to ride herd over the various heroes in the Avengers, and a friend to spar with and commiserate over the crazy invasion, earth conquering, and just plain silly plans they had to thwart on a regular basis. They had built up a great work relationship over the years. Tony provided the financial backing, tech know-how and the blasting, while Steve provided the leadership, the training, and the inspiration. All of that fit the definition of work spouse.

But Tony knew Rhodey very well. “That’s not exactly what you were thinking,” he accused. “Come on, Rhodey, spill it.”

Rhodey had recovered himself. “Nah, that’s it,” he replied vaguely as he signaled for the check. “You know, teammates, good friends …”

Tony wasn’t going to get anything more of Rhodey right then. He balled up his napkin. “Let’s go and put that quinjet through its paces.”

Friday morning, Tony found a note in Steve’s handwriting stuck under the coffee maker. He read the coffee-stained note while waiting for the coffee to brew.

The note started off in pure Steve-style, listing a number of Avengers-related training plans, who Tony hadn’t sparred with recently, that sort of thing. Then the list veered into something completely different -- just a short list of coffee supplies for Tony’s workshop, times to call Pepper, possible movies with Gravity scratched off, Tony’s preference in seats on the quinjet, and Tony’s latest favorite restaurants.

He wondered how Steve knew that he wouldn’t like Gravity -- after all, in a world with superheroes, someone could easily rescue stranded astronauts. And why would Steve care if he had sugar in the workshop for coffee? Then again, when Steve was around, he never had to worry about his coffee supplies or the training rotation or having that one seat in the quinjet where he could sit and stretch his legs and still see and hear what was going in the front.

Huh, Steve obviously gave more thought to Tony’s life in the Tower than just what Tony did as Iron Man. Feeling a bit unsettled by the whole thing, Tony carefully stuck the note back under the coffee maker in case Steve went looking for it.

His phone buzzed. Pepper was reminding him to be early for the charity event for engineering students that night. Wow, even the charity events were fun this week. How could this week get any better?

Only if that one tiny, impossible thing that Tony had locked away in the depths of his heart ever came true. All the talk (well, all his talk) about Steve being his work spouse had fed that tiny, little hope that maybe Steve might possibly be interested in Tony as more than a friend. Even in a week of good luck, small miracles and triumphs, it seemed too much to hope for that.

Ordinarily Tony had a date or two lined up for Saturday night. But he had cancelled his plans when he decided he really preferred to have a night in. Tony spent the day in the workshop and took a shower before showing up in the common living room. Yawning, he found that Steve had already claimed a seat on the couch. “There’s lasagna on the counter from Gianni’s,” Steve said.

“Wow.” Tony loved the lasagna from the Italian place around the corner. He cut himself a large corner slice. Usually he had to fight for a piece, and clearly the lasagna had been left unmolested since it was delivered. “Um, where’s the team?”

“Oh, Storm’s on a date, Jan is over at Hank’s, Bruce is attending a lecture at Empire State, and everyone else is off somewhere and won’t be back anytime soon,” Steve replied. He was queuing up movies on the television. “How about Edge of Tomorrow? Or we could go with District 9.”

Tony plunked down next to Steve with his lasagna and wine. “Either sounds good.” He noticed that Steve had freshly showered and was covered in the scent of aftershave.

“Beats the Gravity disaster?” Steve asked, with the corner of his mouth quirking up. “Jan told me that you never stopped complaining until Bruce stopped the film and asked you to shut up or leave.”

“You knew I’d hate it --”

“You never like movies where you think if you had the suit, you could fix the problem. Makes it hard to find a science fiction or action film. And everyone’s sick of Pacific Rim except you.”

“Pacific Rim is a work of genius,” Tony affirmed. He had only watched it about thirty times. “In fact, we could watch that right now.”

“If you want,” Steve agreed. He started to flip through the movie listings on the television. “But I put my foot down at Transformers, any of them.”

“No one loves that film like I do,” Tony groused. “The idea of transforming robots is very compelling.”

“I like plot and character and acting and cinematography with my films.”

“We can watch Lawrence of Arabia or The Third Man later.” Steve perked up at the mention of The Third Man, he loved that film. “But giant robots now.” 

Tony leaned back into the couch. Then he laughed and shook his head. “You would not believe the week I had.” He told Steve the whole story. “Best week ever,” he finished. “Though I still can’t believe that Reed decided against using us as his cleaning crew for those bugs.”

“I might have said something,” Steve admitted. He was facing Tony, leaning into the couch as he listened to him.

Tony swatted at Steve’s arm. “I owe you.”

“Yeah, well, I owe Reed a favor, so don’t celebrate,” Steve said. “Might include medical tests.”

“Let him just try. We’ll defend your honor.” Tony slashed his fork through the air imitating a sword. Taking a few bites of lasagna and sips of wine, he suddenly blurted out, “Have you ever heard of a work wife?”

Steve shook his head. “I don’t think so. I don’t think I’ve heard of that before.”

“Work wife or work spouse -- a person with whom you work very closely only in the workplace in a platonic relationship,” Tony said. 

“Learn a new thing every day. Strange expression.” Steve’s forehead wrinkled, a sure sign that Steve was annoyed or upset.

“I overheard something said earlier in the week,” Tony replied with a shrug.

“What, that Pepper is your work wife? Doesn’t that sound a little sexist?” Steve asked worriedly.

“She said that _you_ were my work spouse. I asked around why anyone would say that, and they all almost split their guts laughing. So I have no idea …” Tony stared at his lasagna, not daring to look at the increasingly bewildered Steve. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up. Chop, chop, movie time.”

Finally, Steve put a hand on Tony’s knee. “What do you think?”

Tony’s mind was short-circuiting from the warmth of Steve’s touch and the closeness of his sky-blue eyes. He mumbled, “It fits, I guess, we work all the time together … that sort of thing.”

“Even the platonic part?” Steve asked. He slid closer to Tony. 

Oh, god. He was completely blindsided. The whole week had put him in such a great mood that he never even noticed what Steve was up to. He looked around at the unnaturally neat room with the lasagna and wine, suspected cheesecake for dessert in the refrigerator, and then considered the lack of teammates who were always underfoot all the time. 

And Steve looked pretty damn spiffy for someone hanging around his house on a Saturday night, just eating take-out and watching movies with his work spouse. Oh, god. Was this Steve awkwardly making a pass at him, Tony? 

“Um, Steve? You’re kind of in my space.”

Steve suddenly pulled back. He blushed a little. “Didn’t notice,” he offered. He sunk back into the couch. “So anyway, movie. Pacific Rim, right?”

Tony took a deep breath. Here he was being offered something he had thought about. Vaguely. Sometimes. Um, maybe a lot of the time. Whatever he said next could have life-long effects on his very important relationship with Steve. He couldn’t not be friends with Steve. 

He should be reasonable, cautious and thoughtful in his response. No, that was definitely not his style. So damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. 

“No, not platonic, not at all. We could be anything you want, any time, work spouse, partner, boyfriend, friend,” babbled Tony. “Or not, you know. Whatever works for you.” Smooth, Tony, smooth, especially for a guy who dated supermodels. 

He surged forward to kiss a very surprised Steve, who returned his kiss with fervor. Steve kissed better than he ever imagined, folding Tony in his arms and holding tightly like this was a dream and Tony would disappear if he let go. 

Tony could work with this. Tony poured everything he had into pressing his lips against Steve’s, willing him to believe that Tony felt the same way. Needing to breathe, Tony broke off the kiss and placed his head in the crook of Steve’s neck. Steve combed his hand through Tony’s hair. 

“I guess this means you’ll go out with me?” Steve asked.

“Was that all this was about?” Tony murmured. He snuggled into Steve and the couch.

“I had a lot of time to think on my trip to Virginia. So I decided to take a chance and work up to suggesting that we try dating, maybe. And I sort of planned tonight.”

“Another winning plan there, Steve,” Tony replied. “Consider me interested. Very much so.”

Steve snorted. “I think I realized I had a chance when you kissed me.” He pressed a kiss to the top of Tony’s head.

Tony shifted so that he was still in Steve’s arms but could see the television. “I never thought you’d be interested,” Tony said.

Giving Tony a squeeze, Steve replied, “Everyone on the team gave me advice and said I should do something soon or else they would, because we were driving them crazy.”

“That explains the hysterical laughter,” Tony conceded. “Well, since this date is a dinner and movie, why don’t we get back on track.” He nudged Steve, who dutifully started the movie and wrapped his arm around a very happy Tony. 

He couldn’t have asked for a better ending to a great week. And he really liked the idea of spending more Saturday nights with Steve. 

Score a million for Team Work Spouse.


End file.
